So what punitive measure would you take again Dale Petroskey for being a public jerk?

Petroskey also writes, "Politics has no place in The Hall of Fame." Yet, it was fairly obvious he meant "Politics that don't agree with mine have no place in The Hall of Fame." He isn't contrite about his public disaster -- McCarthy-era blackballing it is -- he merely thought it would be more popular than it was. How can you expect Robbins to take "Well if I'd known I'd look like a fool, I wouldn't have done it even though I thought it was right." as an apology? If Petroskey wants Robbins to accept an apology, maybe he should try offering one instead of an excuse.

Very important story Sean, thanks. I would like to think the virtually universal condemnation from all coerners of the blogosphere on this made some impact - I'm glad he saw the light, but he should mae an unambiguous mea culpa.

This was a no-win situation, or at least
a lose-lose-win where the win is contingent on the good manners and class of Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. The event should never have been planned to begin with. If the event had gone on as scheduled, and the Sarandons had made Moore-style asses of themselves, the guy would have taken heat for inviting them and providing them with a platform for their tacky rage. By disinviting them, he ended up still giving them a platform. The only possible positive outcome would have been the Sarandons showing up and keeping their comments on topic and behaving graciously. Based on past performance, why should this guy have expected them to do that?

Seems to me that Susan demonstrated the ability to do that very thing at the Oscar's ceremony as a presenter: she got up, read her lines and flashed a quick inoffensive peace sign. When later asked about it, she noted that it wasn't the time and place for any other statements from her - which would say to me that the woman does have a proper sense of occasion.

She did so after reported threats from the producers. She also had Mr. Moore to speak out for her.

Clearly we're coming from two different starting points based on ideology. I'm inclined to give Sarandon the benefit of the doubt; you're not. (I really don't believe that a few producer threats would have swayed the woman if she'd really wanted to say something.) But even if you're right, the bigger question remains: was such anticipatory censorship smart or even effective? I suspect that if the event had gone on as planned and Robbins or Sarandon had made some kind of statement, the whole story would've had a shorter shelf life.